Lightning decision jam (inspired by aj and smart) small2

L I GH T N I N G D ECI SI ON J A M Adapted from AJ and Smart' s original design (w ith special emphasis for school leaders) M ay 24, 2018

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recommends Time Timer - if you watch his Youtube video you get the sense this is a reluctant endorsement)

Back gr ou n d The approach to decision making outlined in this document is adapted from AJ and Smart?s elegant decision-making tool, Lightning Decision Jam. I have adapted AJ and Smart?s Lightning Decision Jam w ith minor modifications to describe how to facilitate w ith larger groups and to account for my experience using a similar process (although my process included more discussion and takes much longer).

The purpose of the Lightning Decision Jam is to increase the pace of decision-making.

It is not unusual for teams to discuss problems and solutions for extended periods w ithout implementing any changes. Lightning Decision Jam is a method to get from problem to action steps in less than 90 minutes. M ake sure to gather materials before starting and review the process.

M at er ials -

Rectangular post-its (these are slightly larger than standard post-its) Square post-its (tw o different colors recommended) Voting dots (tw o different colors recommended) Sharpies Timer that clearly shows remaining time (Jonathan Courtney 3

Roles -

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Facilitator ? this person opens the meeting, manages time, ensures norms are follow ed, and makes sure that notes are distributed after the meeting.

M oderator ? if a large group is divided into smaller groups, then a moderator is selected for each group.

The moderator?s role is to enforce norms, take notes, and update the dynamic reporting chart.

Participant ? follow norms and engage in exercise fully.

Bef or e t h e M eet in g

Step #2 (facilitator)? Prepare materials and the room.

Step #1 ? Select a general problem that needs to be addressed by the team assembled. It helps to select a problem that most participants in the meeting w ill agree is important or one that has clear data that supports its importance. The problem may be selected by an individual (e.g. team leader, CEO) or by agreement of the team.

Examples of problems that school leadership teams might discuss: -

Post the general problem on a w hite board or piece of chart paper so it is easily visible in the meeting room.

If the group that w ill be w orking on this general problem is larger than seven you w ill need to create smaller groups. Groups larger than eight are too large and w ill significantly increase the time to complete this task and decrease the potential for identifying a solution that can be executed (For a discussion of optimal group size for decision-making look at this blog: https://sheilamargolis.com/tag/team-size/ ). M ake sure the room w ill accommodate small group w ork (e.g. locations to breakout). Plan how to break up the groups (e.g. random distribution of people, cross-team pre-planned groups).

Working more effectively as a team Engaging w ith our community Reducing stress among staff M otivating students Increasing attendance rate (or reducing chronic absenteeism rate) Reducing negative behaviors in the hallw ay Improving health and w ellness of students Reducing bullying incidents Improving communication w ith parents

Post norms if your group is not w ell normed. Example norms: -

During the meeting the participants break the problem into sub-problems or causes of the problem general, so make sure w hatever you choose to tackle is broad and important.

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Approach the problem w ith an open-mind Have a bias tow ards action and select tasks that can be completed quickly No talking, except w hen the activity allow s No electronics

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Wh ole Gr ou p Toget h er Step #4 (facilitator) ? If the group is eight or larger, break into smaller groups of close to equal size (betw een four and seven).

This should move quickly since you considered it prior to the meeting starting.

Step #3 (facilitator)? The facilitator or person w ho identified the general problem w ill introduce the purpose for the meeting ? to go from general problem to actions steps to address the problem in less than 90 minutes. During this meeting you w ill be expected to make decisions, commit to action, and ensure that the tasks you agree to are completed.

There are tw o w ays to approach the implementation of Lightning Decision Jam once you have split a large group into smaller w orking teams: (1) each small team w orks on a different general problem or (2) all teams focus on the same general problems, but w ork tow ards solutions independently. If you have multiple groups w orking simultaneously in the same room use dynamic public record keeping to track of progress. This can be maintained on a piece of chart paper, white board, or wall.

See examples of dynamic public record keeping below and to the right.

If the problem you are using this technique for is emotionally charged or might be controversial, make sure that you let participants know before the meeting that you w ill be making decisions and to come w ith an open mind and a bias tow ards action.

Group #1

Group #2

Problem Sub-problem/Cause Executable Solution Action Steps

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Group #3

Group #4

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wall. Nobody else in the team may speak at this point. No follow-up questions, just listening. The moderator should give no more than four minutes per person.

Individuals should feel comfortable clustering sub-problems/causes as they present them. If someone before you said something similar, stick your post-it near theirs.

Sm all Gr ou p Wor k Step #5 ? Each group should select a moderator. If the group is fewer than eight, then the facilitator can also be the moderator. The moderator ?s role is to keep time and ensure that participants follow the strict rules of no talking. The moderator can join in on the process, but their primary role is still time keeping and discussion manager. If Lightning Decision Jam is used frequently, the facilitator/moderator can be rotated (as they do at AJand Smart).

Once everyone has spoken and added their sub-problems/causes then everyone in the group has shared their thinking without multiple tangents or without some people drowning out others (e.g. extroverts versus introverts). Below is an example of chart paper with sub-problems/causes on post-its.

Step #6 -- Start with Sub-Problems/Causes? ? ?seven minutes Everybody in the team spends seven minutes writing down any challenge, cause, or concern related to the overall problem without talking. Remind the team to go for quantity and not worry if every sub-problem/cause is high quality. Write each idea on an individual post-it note.

Step #7 -- Present Sub-problems/Causes?? ? four minutes per person The moderator now selects one person at a time to stand up at a wall/whiteboard to quickly explain each problem they written on their post-its as they stick them to the 9

Step #8 -- Select Problems ? six minutes The moderator gives each member tw o voting dots. Everybody must now vote on the sub-problem/cause they consider to be the most pertinent to solve, w ithout discussion. (Highly recommend that the most senior person in the room go last so that their observed vote does not lead others to vote in a certain w ay).

You can vote for your ow n sub-problem/cause here and you can put both your votes on one challenge if you feel strong enough about it. Once the six minutes are up, the moderator quickly takes the voted problems and arranges them in order of priority. Post-its are arranged from highest to low est in terms of votes.

Step #9 -- Reframe Problems ? ?six minutes This step is for the moderator to lead. The moderator may ask for help but talking should be limited. Now , only focusing on the voted and prioritized problems?? ?the moderator is going to rew rite each one as a ?How M ight We? ?? question, this w ill help us create an array of solutions and be a little bit broader at the start. ?How M ight We? ?? questions are effective for framing the solution as something w e have control over and is solvable.

The moderator should rew rite all the problems as quickly as possible, making sure they are still prioritized before moving on.

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right? The moderator now gives each team member six dots to vote on the solutions they think w ould best solve the HM W. Because the members w ill need to read each post-it, a little more time is given for this voting process. Vote for six different solutions.

Step #10 - Produce Solutions?? ?seven minutes Now the top voted HM W problem w ill be used to produce solutions. If there are tw o top voted problems, or three just start w ith the one on the left first. Don?t w orry about it and do not discuss!

Step #12 - Prioritize Solutions -30 seconds Just like w ith the problems, the moderator now has 30 seconds to make a prioritized list of solutions?? ?ignore anything w ith the few er than tw o votes.

Now each team member is given in seven minutes to w rite as many possible w ays to tackle the ?How M ight We? .?? challenge w ithout any discussion. Removing discussion here also insures a variety of solutions. It?s important for the moderator to tell the team members here that w e?re aiming for quantity over quality. This is the divergent stage of the process. We w ill converge and improve solutions in later steps.

Solutions must be w ritten in a w ay that is understandable to people reading. There is no individual presenting of solutions as this creates a bias tow ards the best presenters (and is time-consuming). So, legibility is important as is clarity of language.

Once the seven minutes is up everybody sticks their ideas on the surface (w all, w hiteboard, w hatever) as fast as possible, no need to be neat? just stick them anyw here ? this should only require one-minute.

Step #11 - Vote on Solutions?? ?eight minutes Remember this? We?ve done it before 11

the moderator must be quick to find a consensus and ensure conversations are short. Once the Effort has been determined, the moderator uses the same drill for Impact: ?Higher or Low er.? (Check out the LDJ video at 9:30 to see how AJ and Smart do this step).

Step #13 - Decide w hat to execute on?? ? ten minutes Some solutions are more popular than others to test out, but it also makes sense to consider the effort (and your team?s capability) to act on the proposed solutions. To select a solution to test it is recommended that you use an Effort(Capability)/Impact scale. The solutions that your team identifies as relatively low effort and high impact should be prioritized for immediate testing. Other ideas should be captured in the notes to be considered for future testing.

Now you have a clear overview of w hat w hich High-Impact solutions could be executed on and tested quickly (top left quadrant), and w hich High-Impact solutions w ill take more Effort (top right quadrant). The moderator should now quickly mark all post-its in the top left quadrant w ith a contrasting dot so w e can identify them later.

During this step the moderator needs to be proactive. Participants w ill disagree and w ant to engage in dialogue. Some discussion is allow able, but there should be a bias tow ards quick decisions. The moderator?s goal is to get the team to quickly agree on an approximate amount of Effort and Impact for each proposed solution. Effort, in this case, is how much effort w e as a team think it w ill take to implement. The team should also consider the team?s capabilities (do they have the skills or competencies necessary to implement the solution). Impact is the degree to w hich w e think the proposed solution w ill solve our problem.

The moderator w ill take the top-voted solution, hovers it over the center of the E/I scale and simply asks ?higher or low er??? ? small discussions might break out here, so 12

Step #14 - Turn Solutions into Actionable Tasks?? ?five minutes The moderator now takes the top left quadrant solutions off the E/I scale and asks the person w ho w rote the solution to give actionable steps tow ard testing the solution. These steps should be something that could be executed in the next one to tw o w eeks. I sometimes say during meetings, ?What can you do by Tuesday??

Instead of coming up w ith the perfect action steps, try to identify steps that can be completed quickly and w ill provide some information about the effectiveness of the solution.

AJ and Smart recommend that you w rite up all the top left quadrant solutions. This makes sense if there are only a few solutions and you have the resources to run experiments for each. If the upper left quadrant has many solutions or you lack the resources to run multiple experiments just select one or tw o. You can do this by voting or have the moderator select them.

Step #15 ? For each Experiment Create -What, When, Who Using post-its, chart paper, a w hite board, or a piece paper make sure to make a list of ?w hat?, ?w hen?, and ?w ho?. Each task (?w hat?) is being assigned a timeline (tw o w eeks maximum) and an ow ner (?w ho?).

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T H I N K ST RAT EGY ,L L C w w w .think-strategy.net w w w .edinnovationbox.com joe@think-strategy.net 303-618-2531 Lyme, NH

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